A Mercenaries Tale
by KnightOfSaints
Summary: Set five years before the main story of GoT. This story follows a simple man's journey across the world as he travels across both Westeros and Essos as many adventures turn into deadly games of survival. [OC Suggestions Welcome]
1. Prologue: Goldengrove

**Prologue: Goldengrove**

The sun was shining brightly throughout the white clouds, the sky was blue and down on the ground the flowers had already started to bloom. After four whole days of non-stop rain it seems like the people of Goldengrove had finally caught a strike of luck with the weather. People in the streets were busy doing as much business as possible before their luck had run out and the rain comes back. However, that still didn't stop the many loiterers either dead drunk or enjoying their time and nice day while they can. Atop the walls of Goldengrove flew the banner of House Rowan, the golden tree over a silver field, as guardsman kept a watchful yet somehow still lazy watch for any potential threats.

In front of the gates of the city Lucas slowly made his way into town while carrying his sack and a wooden crate that clunked and clanged with each step he took. On his body was an armored tunic and a black cloak with a hood, on his feet were leather boots that proved perfect for the rain, they were probably the only reason his toes hadn't fallen off from the cold, that and the cloak, the cloak was pretty good. To his side Lucas had a sword strapped on, the same sword he had been using for around three years now and it had served it's purpose well.

When he started to make his way throughout the streets Lucas could see a few familiar faces already. Old man Roland, Little Suzy, Slow Toby and Fast Thomas, William the Blacksmith and Rona the Silk-Merchant, all of those faces Lucas instantly recognized, it was strange really, Lucas had only been gone for two weeks and already he was feeling a sense of nostalgia.

That sense of nostalgia soon faded away however when Lucas decided it was time to sell off this crate of goodies as his shoulders were already becoming numb due to how long he had been carrying this thing. He traveled for a few more minutes until he got to the market district where everyone would shop for food, clothes, furniture and many other things. In the full center were a multitude of random stands for a large variety of products, to the sides however were the full shops that would sell things like carpets, candles, wool and cloth and so on.

The shop Lucas was the most intent on visiting however was the "specialties" shop. He walked away through the sides of the market and entered through an alleway where a single door with a sign above it. The sign read 'Gardens of The World' and the shop of course was named after said sign. Like always, when Lucas entered the shop it was completely empty with the only light shining through the room was a few lanterns hanging from the wall.

"Yoren? Are you here?" Lucas called out to the shop owner as he stumbled through the cramped store, "or have you finally drank yourself to death..."

As soon as he called out to him Lucas could hear ruffling through the back of the shop as well as the certain rumblings of a hungover old man. By the time the old man had gotten to the counter where Lucas had been waiting for him he looked like he was ready to throw up and pass out on the floor again. His beard was stained, the yellow tint of alcohol on his hairs was proof of his drinking if the stench wasn't enough.

"sasfrzamolkehklanea..." Yoren mumbled something to himself as he pulled himself up using the counter.  
"What was that? Sorry I couldn't hear you over your overwhelming stench." Lucas joked mockingly.  
"I s-said... be quiet for a moment boy." Yoren finally managed to blubber out.  
"Ooooh, the prodical merchant comes back to life!" Lucas once again mocked Yoren.

Yoren and Lucas had known each other for a long time, the old merchant had been a friend to Lucas' family before he himself was even born. Ever since he had gone out on his own Lucas would always visit Yoren's shop whenever he wanted to sell some goodies or buy a random trinket, he really couldn't help it at this point since Lucas had built up sort of a habit of doing these trades every time he returned home after a long trip.

"So..." Yoren started as he seemed to finally sobered up, "... what have you brought me this time boy?".

"Right, brought a few new things this time. It took a lot of effort to gather everything and haul it so far so how about we make it worth the effort this time." Lucas said as he planted the box he was carrying this whole time on the stand. After he said that Yoren let out his 'We'll see about that' look as he began to stare at the box in small anticipation. Lucas opened the wooden crate to reveal a small stack of a variety of items that consisted of a sword, a chestplate, a bow with it's own quiver and an assortment of random accesories like bracelets, necklaces, rings and so on and so forth.

"Well, well, well..." Yoren said as he took the sword and chestplate from the box and started to examine the two items. "I'm suprised Lucas, this is pretty high quality for a simple scavenging hunt." after he said that Yoren took the blade in his hands and got some space to test it out for a few swings. "The sword doesn't look like your everyday average blade, this looks like Westerland Iron, the handle's not to shabby either."

"What about the armor?" Lucas asked.

"Hmm... not much worse than the sword but I can tell they're not a matching pair." Yoren said as he put the sword down on the stand. "The sword is obviously from the Westerlands, maybe it belonged to a Lannister soldier, but you can clearly see Reach patterns on the chestplate. They're stratched off but you can see remnants of the sigil of House Tyrell as well as a few rose-like patterns to the sides." Yoren examined, pointing out certain points on the chestplate.

"Is that so? I guess that would make sense. I hadn't really gotten the chance to look at the sword and armor since I was in a hurry while taking them." Lucas said.  
"Aye, that reminds me. Where did you get these things?" Yoren said after putting down the chestplate back on the stand.

"Highwaymen..." Lucas put it bluntly. "They put up a sort of station up on the Roseroad and from my assumptions they had been extorting merchants and travelers for safe passage. From the looks of it they had been doing this for some time now since the station itself looked like it had been there longer than they were. A lot of them were also pretty well equipped for simple Highwaymen, I'm pretty sure I saw one in full plate armor actually..." as Lucas continued to explain Yoren put his hand in the box and examined the rest of accesories to determine their prices.

"So let me guess..." Yoren started, "... you saw those Highwaymen harassing some poor innocent farmers who were just passing by and then you slayed the foul bandits and took their belongings as a reward for your heroic deeds. Is that about right?" Yoren said as he put down the rings and moved on to the bracelets.

"Oh Seven Hells no! There was around 20 of them Yoren, I mean I'm good but not that good." Lucas said.

In reality Lucas had been in unfair fights before, years of traveling alone on the road made him easy pickings for ambitious bandits. However, a three or four on one fight was something different than a twenty on one fight. It also was rather discouraging that those Highwaymen were as well equipped as they were, there was no doupt that Lucas could have taken down maybe five of them at the most before he was killed himself.

"So how did you manage to get all this?" Yoren asked, his curiosity only rising.

"Easy, left some nice breadcrumbs for a bear that just so happened to walk in on the Highwaymen's little road station. A few of them managed to see me in the chaos of all of it but luckily they weren't fast enough to call their buddies over before they found a sword through their gut." Lucas explained.

"Well, atleast you managed to get out of there safe." Yoren said, slightly suprised by Lucas' actions.  
"Yes, I guess so. Now what can you give me for all of this?" Lucas said as he finally got to the point.

"For the sword, due to the quality, I can give you around 800 silver stags and 50 bronze pennies. The chestplate is rather damaged but it look like it hasn't taken too much of a beating so for this I can give you 500 silver stags. The rings all around are worth 200, the bracelets 400 and the necklace is 50 silver stags. All around there's 1 gold dragon 950 silver stags and 50 bronze pennies. How does that sound?"

"Well normally I would say that you're full of shit and that this is worth more but this time I have a little suprise for you." when Lucas said that Yoren raised his brow a bit in curiousness. From his pocket Lucas pulled out a broch that seemed to be made of pure gold with a single red ruby in the center. Yoren's eyes widened completely at the sight.

"Lucas! Where in all the Hells did you get this boy?!" Yoren asked in excitement, not paying attention to how dumb-founded he looks.  
"It was the only thing that stood out besides the things in the box, needless to say I took an interest." Lucas explained.  
"An interest?! Boy, sell this to the right man and you have enough money to buy a large house!" Yoren said.  
"Well, it seems I've struck a gold mine haven't I? Now how about you calm down and tell me how much I can get for this." Lucas said calmly.

It took Yoren a few moments to calm down but when he finally did the two got back to the point. "Alright look, I could give you 10 gold dragons for this at the most." Yoren said, trying to put on his more stern face to hide his nervousness the Lucas was going to see through it, which he did.

"20 dragons" Lucas put it simply as he rested his elbow on the stand, ready for a fight.

"I can pull it up to 12 dragons Lucas."  
"30"  
"Lucas don't take me off on this offer, 15 dragons."  
"40"  
"Lucas..."  
"50"  
"Lucas come on lad, you're killing me here."  
"60"

"ALRIGHT LOOK! I will give you 25 gold dragons if you just stop now!" Yoren said, starting to get desperate.  
"..." Lucas stayed silent, closing his eyes to contemplate a bit as he rested his head on his hand.  
"So how about it?" Yoren asked the boy.

"One hundred..."

"Dammit Lucas! Alright, I'll give you 30 gold dragons, take it or leave it." Yoren put up his final offer.

After a few more seconds Lucas stood straight up again and took Yoren's hand to seal the deal with a satisfied expression. "Pleasure doing business with you Yoren..." Lucas said with a big slimy grin on his face, while Yoren could only grumble beneath his own voice at the cocky little boy.

"Yes, yes, now just stay put, I'll get the money." Yoren said as he put the box down on his side of the stand and went to the back of his shop for the payment. After a few more minutes Yoren came back with two bags, one bag apparently had the silver stags and the bronze pennies while the other had the 31 gold dragons.

"Hey look on the bright side Yoren. At least now you can finally sell something that may get you a bigger shop. Gods only know you need the extra space." Lucas joked as he looked back to the cramped space of Yoren's shop. The broch by itself could get Yoren some good money and like he said, that money could be enough to buy him a large house if it were sold to the right buyer. Why the broch was as valuable as it was Lucas couldn't bother to think about.

Lucas put the two bags in a satchel that he often used to store his money but today the satchel was quite heavier, a good kind of heavy seeing the circumstances. After the little trade Lucas made his way out of the shop, stumbling through the many trinkets, armors and weapons the were lying around, when Lucas had finally gotten to the door both of them had said their goodbyes. "Say hello to your father and sister for me. At least they have the decency to treat an old man with respect." Yoren grumbled as he disappeared to the back of the shop again, probably to drink his day away.

"Of course, my friend, until next time..."

 **One Hour Later...**

After some traveling around town to get his bearings Lucas decided it was time to visit his family. It had been around four weeks since he left but of all the things Lucas would forget about his hometown it would never be his families tavern to the south of Goldengrove. It was a rather new building, some 20 years old, and needless to say it stood out from all the older buildings that surrounded it.

The building itself was three floors in total and most of it was built from stone and wooden pillars. In maximum the tavern could possibly hold around 20 or so people due to each floor having 5 rooms. The first floor was mainly single rooms for one person while the second floor was for rooms for 2 or more people. Lucas had been working in the tavern for the larger part of his childhood, serving customers food and drink, when he had turned 16 however Lucas stopped doing work at the tavern and gone out by himself. Four years later and by Lucas' standards he thought that his decision was well made since he was currently rich. Well, rich in the eyes of a commoner.

When he entered the tavern it was suprisingly empty, however not to strange since it was still the middle of the day and most of their patrons would tend to drink themselves to death in the evening. Inside of the tavern were about a dozen tables, small stools to the side and the main stall where the tavern keeper would prepare drinks. To the back of the stall was the kitchen where the taverns two cooks, Ben and Samwell, prepare meals for hungry patrons. Ever since the creation of the tavern, Lucas' father had run the tavern practically by himself since Lucas' mother was often too busy taking care of either him or his little sister. After Lucas had stopped doing jobs at the tavern, his little sister Laila had taken over for him with a lot of unexpected enthusiasm.

The very same sister was currently serving drinks to the few patrons that were around while Lucas' father was seemingly nowhere to be found and Lucas assumed that Ben and Samwell weren't working since the tavern only cooks and serves meals in the evening. Laila was an overall short girl, well, short compared to Lucas. She had shoulder-length, black, curly hair as well as dark brown eyes like Lucas.

Lucas himself had black hair as well. He had made a habit of keeping his hair short and while he did keep track of his hair Lucas' facial was a completely different story. He didn't really care about the way he looked since during his travels Lucas had learned from experience that having more of a 'rouge-ish' look to him made travelers along the road more trusting of him. The result left Lucas having short hair accompanied by a thick stubble but nothing more than that since he had enough decency to at least trim himself whenever his beard started to grow too long.

"Laila!" Lucas called out to his little sister, the moment he called her Laila turned around sharply with widened eyes as she instantly recognized her brothers voice.  
"Brother, you finally made it." Laila said as she ran over and hugged her big brother.  
"I was beginning to think something had happened to you." Laila said as the two siblings finally stopped hugging.  
"No I'm fine. I just didn't think it would take me this long." Lucas said to assure his sister.

Before he arrived to Goldengrove, about a week earlier, Lucas sent a letter via personal messenger to his family saying that he was going to return soon but he expected that it would have taken a maximum of two days but in reality there had been a few delays along the Roseroad, or rather he had some Highwaymen to deal with. The only reason he was able to send his sister and father the letter was due to a job he had during the four weeks away from Goldengrove.

Lucas took up a job with another group of mercenaries to protect a merchants caravan that needed to arrive in Bitterbridge. As payment Lucas didn't ask for money like the others but instead he asked for a personal messenger to deliver a letter to his family since he knew they would constantly worry for him even when he was in Goldengrove, whenever he wasn't in her sight Lucas knew his sister would worry about him and the same went for his father. The only one out of Lucas' entire family that had ever encouraged Lucas' little endeavours was his mother, who saw her sons sense of adventure not as a danger but as a virtue.

"Go on and take a seat, you must be hungry. I'll find something to fix up in the kitchen." Laila interrupted Lucas' thoughts.  
"No, you don't need to, I ate before I got here." Lucas stopped his sister.  
"Then take a seat and I'll have father fix you up a drink." Laila said and before Lucas could stop her again she ran off to get father.

Something that Lucas had noticed is that, over the years, Laila had lost her snarky attitude and learned to be much more... polite. A few years ago if this same thing had happened Lucas was sure that Laila would have had his head over being late even if it was just a few days.

Deciding it was useless to argue with his sister right now and the fact that Lucas hadn't taken the time to sit down the entire day since the sun came out he walked over to the table near the window and took a seat. Before he sat down Lucas unattached the belt that was holding his swords scabbard. Along with the scabbard Lucas took off the cloak and put both it and the scabbard to the sides. As he sat down Lucas couldn't help but observe the tavern to see if anything had changed and while the place was much more crowded the last time he was here nothing new really seemed to stand out. It must have been a slow month.

While he was looking around, someone seemed to enter the tavern. A man with long brown hair wearing full plate armor and carrying a decorated bastard longsword. The man himself had the look of a knight and just the way he walked, stood and even looked at the people of the tavern was a sign of his higher upbringing. From personal experience however, Lucas knew that person was anything but noble.

'Well shit...' he thought to himself as the knight seemed to immediately see Lucas and was currently marching towards him with a stare full of hatred. Lucas tried his luck and avoided eye contact as much as possible hoping the knight wouldn't recognize him but seeing the situation it was already too late. Before Lucas could even turn his head to face the knight he was already meet by a hand wrapped in metal gauntlets slamming down on his table. When he had finally looked at the hand-slammer of said table the knight was right in front of Lucas face, teeming with rage.

"Finally found you, shitstain." the knight said angrily.  
"Ser Garret! How nice to see you again!" Lucas said sarcastically as he stood up from his chair to face the knight.  
"Drop the polite shit Lucas, you know why I'm here." Garret cut Lucas' facade before it could even start.  
"Whatever do you mean my dear knight?" Lucas continued with his acting nonetheless.

As he continued Lucas could see Garret reaching out his hand, as if demanding something. "You think I would forget about our deal? .Me. Lucas." Garret said menacingly. In reality it seemed that neither forgot about the deal but Lucas sure was hoping on it, or better yet he was hoping to not meet Garret at all during his visit to Goldengrove.

"Brother?" a voice interrupted both of them, somewhat lowering the tension. When the two had turned to where the voice was Lucas saw it was his little sister, holding the drink she had ready for him. "What's going on here?" Laila asked, placing the mug of ale on the table where her brother was sitting.

"Yes Lucas, why don't you explain to your little sister here what's going to happen?" Garret said in threatening tone.

With both Garret's and Laila's eyes on him Lucas could feel the pressure but the last thing he was intending to do was give in to Garret's little threats. Laila had probably already figured out what was going on since she was smarter than she looks but if she doesn't know Garret then Lucas doupted she would fully understand the consequences of kicking Garret out.

"Here..." Lucas said with a sigh as he grabbed Garret's arm and put 6 golden dragons in his palm, "... that's twice as much as you gave me so don't try to pull the 'interest fee' card Garret. Now do you want to take this any further or have you appeased your self-worship enough for today?" Lucas said, standing at equal height to Garret and looking him dead in the eyes.

The knight could only stare angrily as he clenched the gold dragons in his hands. "Alright you win this time common-boy..." Garret mumbled before turning around and leaving, his cape flying as high as his ego, "... damn you Lucas..." he could hear Garret mumbling before fully leaving the tavern and leaving everyone that was currently in the tavern uncomfortable.

"So do you mind explaining that?" Laila broke the silence between her and Lucas.  
"Believe me, it's a long story." Lucas said as he sat back down and took the mug of ale.  
"Well, nevertheless brother, I'm proud of you." Laila said.  
"Oh? And why is that dear sister." Lucas asked with a curious tone.  
"I was thinking you would punch that man the second you got the chance, but good on you for finding the restraint." Laila complimented her brother.  
"Ah well it would do no more good to antagonize him more than I already did." Lucas said as he took as sip from his mug.  
"So who was he anyways? Some sort of stuck up noble's son?" Laila asked quietly as she sat down with Lucas near the table.

"No, he's a traveling hedge knight. I'm actually suprised you hadn't heard of him before, he's quite famous with the women as I heard." Lucas joked as his sister furrowed her brow with both embarasment and anger. It was looking like the old Laila was starting to seep out once more.

"And what exactly are you implying with that dear brother?" Laila asked with a menacing tone as she leaned on the table.

"Heh... well, jokes aside don't think less of the man from these first impressions." Lucas said, suprising Laila as she now raised her brow in curiosity from he brothers words. "The man may be insufferable at first sight but his intentions aren't bad at all, it's not his fault he has a short temper." by the sound of it Lucas was almost just making excuses for the man who seemingly was ready to kill him just a few moments ago.

"Hmm, well that's really interesting and all but I have to go back to serving the customers so we'll chat later brother." Laila said as she got back to her feet and walked away to tend to the other people who were slowly starting to enter into the tavern as the day was coming to the end and many working men were coming to drink away their day's earnings.

"Alright you do that little sister..." Lucas said as he waved goodbye to Laila and continued to enjoy his drink the mug of ale.

It may have not been the best drink and Lucas himself had admitedly tried out more refined drinks like Dornish wine but nothing could some home-brewed ale along with some chicken breasts and three baked potatoes. Perhaps quite the picky meal but in his families tavern that meal was served almost as a foreign delight of a dish. There were others of course who were already eating dinner. Dishes like smoked fish, dried venison and even some salted foods were available in the tavern, some normal farmers from other provinces would say that these meals were fit for nobility only but in The Reach these kinds of dishes were common-place and the people were much thankful for it.

"It's good to be back home..."

 **Ending Notes:**

 **ALLLLLLRIGHT!**

 **So ends the first ever chapter (or more the prologue) of my first ever story. I hope you guys enjoyed this little snip bit into what I want to transform into large branching story where we can all have some fun and relax. I apologize if the chapter was a bit slow and boring but I promise that next chapter things are going to pick up.**

 **Now to mention what people have probably noticed from the description of the story. This story is going to have a full open invitation for people to suggest their own OC's and even their own Houses if they want, there is one restriction though, no Targaeryens since they are kind of important to the main event this story is going to be based around. Now in terms of what you need to do for the suggestion, it's very simple. Just put a basic description of your characters appearance, personality and if you want to you could write a backstory for them. Also, and once again it's an optional thing but if you want to you could also write the event that introduces your character to the story. For example, you could write some sort of event that introduces your character and I will integrate it into the story in the following chapters and, just for clarity, I will always give credit to the people that suggest the OC's.**

 **Also, reviews, please post them. The reason why I want you guys to suggest your own OC's is because of the fact that I want people to envolve themselves with this story and I want to make themselves feel like a part of it, but I also would like for you guys to post your thoughts or your criticisms for a chapter or the story in general. If you have any advice on how I can improve the story then by all means go on ahead or if you dislike something in the story then please feel free to critisize me.**

 **Well that is all for today, good day to you all.**


	2. Chapter 1: The Price of Heroism

**Chapter 1: The Price of Heroism**

It had been a long time since Lucas had a decent nights sleep in an actual bed. The beds of his families tavern weren't the comfiest nor even the most lavish ones he had slept in but once again, nothing beat the good feeling of sleeping somewhere where you don't have to worry about having your throat slit by bandits or really just any traveling people in general along the road. Although The Reach had been less dangerous than other realms, that didn't mean there were other problems when you were traveling from town to town. Wild animals and an unusual amount of traps were commonplace when going through the woods while the roads were infested with Highwaymen or common looters.

The reason why mercenaries are so common in Westeros these days was mainly due to the Lords not doing their job and keeping their household guards to themselves. While Lucas couldn't blame the Lords like House Rowan or House Tyrell for looking out for their own holdfasts, it still would have been nice if they were to protect the people who pay the taxes that they set for them.

Four years ago, when Lucas had first decided to set out on his own, he would have never dreamed for him to be so captivated by the life he was currently leading. The main reason for his decision was wanderlust. He wanted to explore the world, he wanted to see the Free Cities, the seven Wonders of The World, he wanted to experience the lives and cultures of people who lived so differently from him. Over the years however Lucas lost that same wanderlust and now he really searches for ways of living a peaceful and comfortable life in his future, even though he himself knew deep down that ambition might just be too high even for him.

If there was one thing he had to thank for Lucas' wanderlust, it was the people he managed to meet along the way. Not Lords, not Kings, but people, mercenaries, farmers and random strangers he would come across on his travels. Each one of them had their own stories about their life and many taught Lucas a variety of knowledge about combat as well as swordsmanship. While Lucas himself would never admit to being on the level of a master swordsman like Jaime Lannister or Barristan Selmy he did still consider himself an above average fighter at best.

He woke up somewhat late in the morning, the sun had already risen and the sounds of the people in the town were proof that Goldengrove's population was back to work already. Lucas took some time just to get up from bed but as he got up he took no time to put on all of his clothing and get his sword that he had placed to the side of his bed, just in case.

As he left his room Lucas walked down the stairs only to be suprised once again to see not a somewhat barren tavern with only a few people in it, but an entirely empty tavern with the only people in it being Lucas' sister and his father. The two weren't doing anything of particular importance as Lucas' father, Kenneth, and Laila were sitting at one of the empty tables and talking. It was only when he saw that the tavern was empty did Lucas realize just how large this dinning room had been, usually the place was so crowded that you couldn't even see where you were going without either bumping into someone or stepping on your own feet.

"What's gotten you two so down and dreary?" Lucas asked his family, noticing their semi-depressed expressions.

Both Lucas' father and sister turned to towards him when they heard the question. That was when Lucas got a clearer picture on what he thought could be happening. While he had some theories the main one Lucas had in his head was perhaps the new taxation laws that were being forced on shops and taverns in cities throughout the Reach. Of course prices of basically everything went higher after the new laws were passed. Many public trading posts across the roads also suffered from this new law as well, having to raise stock prices for their inventories and making simple farmers lives a living hell when it came to selling their goods to be able to hold up what land they held.

Why the taxes needed to be forced down at all Lucas couldn't figure out. If it were a province like The Crownlands or The Westerlands that had been having troubles with actually providing for their citizens as well as paying taxes to the crown, he might have understood it, but for a realm like The Reach that is in retrospect the most advanced and profitable part of Westeros it was... to put it lightly... quite strange.

"I take it you've noticed as well?" Lucas' father interrupted him from his thoughts.  
"That the tavern is about as full as Summerhall... yes, I believe I have noticed father." Lucas said.  
"Aye, lately it almost seems like we've been cursed with how little money we've been getting." Lucas' father replied.  
"The roads have been going to Hell recently, less travelers and merchants." Lucas said as he sat down with his family.  
"Didn't you escort a caravan for you last job?" Laila asked, seemingly trying to piece something together.  
"I did. The path we took was quiet enough, although I suspect that was because were a party 30." Lucas said.  
"How many people did you meet along the road who were traveling separate from your caravan?" Laila once again asked.  
"None... the roads were almost ghost-like from how quiet they were. With the occasional bandit attack of course." Lucas answered.

"So I guess that's what's been happening recently." Lucas' father said as he leaned his arms on the table everyone was sitting around. "The roads are too dangerous for traveling and if we don't want to get closed down our services need to be at the prices they are right now. We're in between two roads filled with fire that both lead to either us getting thrown onto the streets or us having to walk through the fire-filled roads and reach somewhere where we eat a meal a day to keep this tavern running." their father explained everything to Laila and Lucas.

The entire room the three sat in was silent for a few moments before Lucas sighed and pulled out a pouch from his pocket, placing it on the table. As the insides of the pouch rattled and clanged when it hit the table both Laila and Lucas' looked at the pouch first and then to Lucas in confusion. "Here, there's about 25 gold dragons in the pouch and if you keep actually getting at least some customers it should last you a few months at the most." Lucas said, immediately regretting his decision just because of how much money he was throwing away, but family is family and Lucas' sense of morality wouldn't let his father and sister out with basically nothing to keep the tavern running.

"Son, you know I can't take this. It would be more useful to you. Believe me we'll manage, we have this far." Lucas' father said.  
"Just... just take it already old man before I start having second thoughts." Lucas said as he pushed the pouch as far away from himself.

Lucas' father took a second to consider, diverging his gaze from Lucas, to Laila, to the pouch and rince and repeat. "Father..." Laila stopped her father's train of thought, "... this money could help us, Lucas can manage on his own as well, much more than we can in a city that has taxes and laws." she made the argument for them taking the money and, in all honesty, Lucas could immediately see her point. In reality Lucas hadn't even thought about his own well-being when doing this, it was more his guilt and moral compass that made him do this, but when it came down to it Laila's point was 'on the money', pun fully intended. Lucas could easily live off the land, hunting and scavenging food when he needed it, it wasn't something new to him at all.

However, his father was an old soldier that had basically forgotten how to fight while his sister Laila had only ever known the life within the walls of Goldengrove, a life free from danger and risks. Neither had gotten into any serious fights, at least not in the last few years. If the household guards of Lord Rowan came knocking on the doorsteps of their tavern then Lucas doupted that either of them could even talk them out of the tavern for a few more days so they can gather the money.

"Very well..." Lucas' father said as he took the pouch and went off to put it behind the counter.  
"Alright then, glad we're done with that." Lucas said with a sigh as he got up from the table himself.  
"And where are you going?" Laila asked, watching her brother slowly walk away.  
"Off to gain some ground from the town again, been a while since I was here anyways." Lucas replied.

In the span of ten minutes Lucas had gotten dressed up with everything but his cloak since today it seems that the rain wasn't going to pour. Sheathing his sword and strapping it to his belt Lucas walked down the stairs and left the tavern along with his father and sister who were busy cleaning the dishes from last night.

While he did walk around the town a little bit yesterday there wasn't really much he could do. Most of the shops that were open didn't interest Lucas and the ones he actually needed like the blacksmith were closed down, only being open from morning to the afternoon and Lucas spent some time just getting to Yoren's shop. The first goal Lucas had on his mind was to get two horses from Martin, Goldengrove's local stablemaster. After that was a visit to the blacksmiths shop for some repairs and perhaps new armor, his blade had been getting a bit dull from overuse and his clothing wasn't shy of showing it's wear and tear.

The sky above was a clear blue with snow-white clouds flying throughout said sky. Down below the stone and brick buildings and streets of Goldengrove had dried off from the rain from two days ago, now only a few shallow puddles were left for all the children to play with and anger their parents. The stones of Goldengrove were all murky and wet, still dripping from two days ago as strange as that was.

As Lucas continued to walk throughout the town his thoughts were cut off by a cry of pain coming from one of the back alleys. None of the other people seeemed to hear the cry and Lucas couldn't have blamed them. When you've been in the wilds for years your senses naturally start to get better, things like smell, sight and hearing need to be fine tuned if you were to have any chance of surviving alone in the wilds. Thankfully, Lucas was not alone that often, he had other companions alongside him many times whenever he was either getting a contract done or just traveling across Westeros.

'I shouldn't get involved in anything right now, at least not here in Goldengrove.' Lucas thought to himself. Nothing good could have come from him getting in trouble here and frankly Lucas would love to keep his family as far away from his little escapades as possible. Lucas knew that everything had consequences, he just wished he knew when those consequences would be good or bad and in his personal experiences, aside from good pay from a contract, many turned out to be bad.

Yet there was one problem with his convictions however, his pesky morality, alongside pure curiosity. Thugs were commonplace around towns, secretly extorting shop owners and other townsfolk for 'protection'. In many cases you couldn't find the difference between thugs from a merchant's guild or the church of the seven. Both had tax collectors who almost always did their jobs by any means necessary. Lucas always hated having to deal with them. The main reason was because that a lot of the time the victim in the whole situation was someone who was either too poor to keep paying taxes or someone who just couldn't afford it in the first place. Once again in those situations Lucas' moral code got the better of him and he had to help them, even if it meant him earning the scorn of many a merchand lord and noble.

This seemed to be just another case of that as, before Lucas could even realize it, he was heading towards the sound of the noise he originally heard. He shifted through the crowd of people as quickly as he could without forcefully shoving anyone out of the way, he didn't want any guards seeing him and start getting suspicious. As he heard another sound of someone apparently getting beat down Lucas began to speed up, his legs not listening to him as every ounce of his common sense was telling him that he should just forget about it, that he had better things to do than go and play the hero.

When he finally managed to get to where the sounds were coming from Lucas was in front of a dark and perhaps somewhat tacky alley, at the back of one particular shop Lucas knew all to well, Yoren's. He peaked through the corner as to not be seen only to see himself a beaten up Yoren on the ground, coughing up small amounts of blood as three people stood over him. Two of the men looked like normal guards, probably part of the garrison here, while the third one, who seemed to be the leader of the little group, wore a full set of plated armor with the insignia of House Rowan, the captain of the guards Lucas presumed.

If it were someone else Lucas might have hesitated and just left in the end because it wasn't worth it. But it was Yoren, someone he knew ever since he was a child and someone who always helped him whenever he came to Goldengrove. Once again before Lucas could realize what he was doing his legs seemed to have a mind of their own as he walked into the alley, the three guards not noticing him just yet.

The leader of the band raised his plate fist to strike Yoren once more but before he could Lucas ran at him, catching him by suprise. In a split-second Lucas grabbed the leaders raised fist and before he could react Lucas punched his helm as hard as he can, knocking the armored man back.

"What in Seven Hells?!" one of the guards yelled out in the confusion.

 _'Dammit dammit dammit dammit dammit...'_ Lucas thought to himself, cursing himself repeatedly as he unsheathed his sword as fast as he could, standing between the guards and Yoren to shield him as the old man continued to cough up blood on the ground. The guards did the same, both drawing their swords and they probably would have charged at Lucas had the leader not stopped them with his hand, signalling them to stop.

"Who are you? To strike a man such as myself?" the leader asked.  
"No one special. Who I'm NOT is someone beating down on an old man." Lucas said in a somewhat mocking tone.  
"You would defend this waste of a person, a liar and criminal is all he is." the leader continued, keeping his two followers behind him.  
"Well really the only wastes of people I see are the two behind you, and the shining bucket of trash that is you." Lucas responded.

"Don't give me any of those petty morals of yours boy. I extended a hand to this man, helped him. I knew how hard times were and that people barely could afford these new taxes that have been placed upon them. In return I prolonged the pay for two months to let him have more time to gather the money, I was even ready to forgive him had he not been able to gather the exact amount. But then the deadline passed and what do I see him doing? Buying an entirely new building, with golden dragons no less!" the leader said in an angry manner, all the while Lucas focused on the two guards behind him, ready to pounce on him at any moment.

In hindsight Lucas could somewhat understand their rage, and this also answered his question as why Yoren wanted that broch so bad from Lucas. On the other hand he couldn't just let the old man out here to die by these thugs. He was outnumbered by three better equipped and probably better trained soldiers. The odds weren't in his favor, but then again they often aren't. If he was to get out of this alive he would have to be smart about this.

Just when tentions were highest Lucas could feel Yoren grabbing his leg. "Get... out of here... boy..." he murmured to Lucas in pain. Despite the warnings, Lucas stayed, he never was one to follow many directions from others, especially from people like Yoren.

"I will give you this chance. Leave this place and I will forget this ever happened, your face means nothing to me so I promise you will not be followed." the leader gave Lucas his offer but once again, he stood as still as a stone, not moving an inch despite his every being telling him to take the armored mans offer and leave. "So be it..." he said as he finally drew his sword, "... stay back, both of you, he's mine.".

 _'He's going to take me on by himself, well... pride cometh before the fall I guess... or at least I hope it's going to cometh...'_ Lucas thought to himself as he and the armored man stood opposite of each other, swords in hand and ready to strike at a moments notice. Silence befell on the small alley they were in, with only the distant sounds of life in Goldegrove.

Waiting and waiting, that's all Lucas could do as his armored opponent did the same, holding a stance with his sword in both hands held out in front of him. This continued for about three seconds until suddenly the armored man swung swiftly at Lucas. The standstill left Lucas somewhat dazed but thankfully he was able to dodge the attack last second and almost out of instinct he retaliated with a thrust to his sides. The armored man did the same and dodged the attack and made some distance between the two.

Lucas realised something then. The only attacks that would really do any damage would be stabs and thrusts at weak points of his armor like the knees or elbows, perhaps even the spaces between the plates. Despite knowing how he should attack the next strategy for him would be how he was going to do said attacks. His opponent started a constant barrage of strikes, doing quick swings, precise and efficient to the last move. Lucas did his best to block and dodge the attacks but all he was able to do in the end was sloppily block his attacks with his sword.

For every strike Lucas tried to find an opening so he can attack his opponent but there was none. He was both outclassed and outskilled by the armored man, Lucas' equipment was worse than his as well. However, just when Lucas was about to try and attack his opponent jumped back a few feet to gain his ground as he let out most of his energy on that first barrage. Now was his chance, and Lucas took it. He swung his sword to his opponent's side and just when he was about to block it Lucas stopped the attack mid-way, pulling the sword back and thrusting it towards his opponents knee. He applied so much force that luckily he was able to pierce through the significantly weaker plating and stab right through his opponent's knee.

The armored man let out a grunt of pain as Lucas struggled to pull the blade out but he eventually managed to force it out. In quick succession Lucas raised the blade high and swung, aiming for the neck with full intention on decapitating the armored man. Before anyone could react however, Lucas' sword broke.

His opponent, even in his state of pain and kneeling down, managed to block Lucas' swing and in return broke his blade. Now without a weapon besides a broken sword that was already worn down, Lucas could only try to gain some distance and think of a new strategy but fate wasn't being all to kind to him at the moment and his opponent quickly followed up his block with a stab towards Lucas.

 _'Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit...'_ that was all Lucas could think as time moved almost in slow-motion. _'Alright, think Lucas... THINK DAMN YOU!'_ Lucas thought and with his body seemingly moving on his own he dodged the stab and grabbed onto his opponents arm, the arm the held the sword. Breaking the arm Lucas succesfully disarmed his opponent. Without thinking Lucas, without hesitation, thrusted the blade through his opponents throat and ended the fight then and there.

As his opponents corpse fell on the ground Lucas came to yet another realisation, he still had two more guards to deal with. He lifted his head up to look at the both of them, not knowing what they were exactly thinking becasue their helmets hid their faces. Without words Lucas raised his sword to face the two, knowing full well that, in his condition right now, he was in no shape to take both of them on. All the while Lucas internally cursed himself for doing all of this but he had to stand his ground now or else both him and Yoren would be killed. By sheer luck or perhaps fear however, the two guards ran the opposite direction, leaving behind a dead corpse, a tired Lucas and a near-death Yoren.

"Well that went... better than expected." Lucas said in confusion.  
"You idiot, don't you know who you just killed?!" Yoren said through his heavy breathing.  
"What? Just another stuck up son of a bitch I would presume." Lucas answered the old man.

"NO YOU IDIOT! YOU JUST KILLED LORD ROWAN'S FIRST BORN SON!"

 **Ending Notes:**

 **And with that ends the first official chapter and it only took me a month and a half to finish it. Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah this was basically my fault for taking so long since I've been kinda busy with a lot of things in my life, work in general, but since this chapter left off on a cliffhanger don't worry, next one is going to come out a lot sooner. Sooner being less than a month and a half and knowing my constant mood swings concerning doing... basically anything really, that sooner is going to probably be a month from now.**

 **On the question of OC suggestions I would like to thank** _Aldon_ **for his suggestion, thank you man and don't worry he is coming, just not in this chapter. Just a quick heads up for anyone wanting to suggest an OC note that I will ALWAYS put them in the story if you suggest them but I have to put them in the story in a way that doesn't just drop them in there mid-way through a certain scene or a story that's currently happening. They will either be linked to the story somehow or they will participate in it either from the very start or near the end as suprises. Once again, you can suggest any kind of character, villain or hero, some may stay for a long time in the story and some may just make some apperances here and there so don't be shy COME ONE COME ALL JUST LIKE YOUR MOTHER DURING HAPPY HOUR I AM TAKING IN ALL PARTICIPANTS!**

 **Also now on the issue of reviews, I want to respond to all of them and so I will be doing it in these ending notes because I think it's the best way to just communicate with everyone and be able to respond to all the reviews so if you have no other interests and you are about to leave then sayonara and I hope to see you all next chapter.**

 **Reviews:**

 **mpowers045:** _This is good_

 **Ey thanks fam, I see you reviewing a lot of stories so I hope you enjoy this one.**

 **Aldon:** _Woah I like this story very much, I get the vibe that lucas is a roguish character who plays the game by his own rules._

 **Thanks for the kind words and from your vibe I can somewhat agree with you. I wanted to write a character that isn't all too good but instead of him being edgy mcbadass #infinity I instead went with the cliche of the sny and joke-telling every man. Of course he has morals, you're not going to see him slitting children's throats or drowning puppies any time soon but don't expect him to be a paragon of justice.**

 **Luke Deadman:** _OI CUNT! WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO UPDATE YOU LAZY BASTARD!_

 **THERE YOU HAPPY NOW I FUCKING UPDATED! AND SINCE WE ARE ON THAT EXACT SUBJECT HOW ABOUT YOU UPDATE YOUR OWN GODDAMN STORIES... oh... wait... YOU CAN'T CAN YA! (disclaimer: pay no attention to this me and Luke are actually friends in real life and like a lot of friendships this is how we normally talk to each other, don't pay attention to him he'll just be here occasionally talking shit)**


End file.
